diff --git a/newsfragments/1690.misc.rst b/newsfragments/1690.misc.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..17ccb1d140
--- /dev/null
+++ b/newsfragments/1690.misc.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Adopt Trinity's newsfragment validation script.
diff --git a/newsfragments/validate_files.py b/newsfragments/validate_files.py
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index b60b8723df..b2ebbba1a6
--- a/newsfragments/validate_files.py
+++ b/newsfragments/validate_files.py
@@ -5,13 +5,14 @@
 
 import os
 import pathlib
+import sys
 
 ALLOWED_EXTENSIONS = {
-    '.feature.rst',
     '.bugfix.rst',
     '.doc.rst',
-    '.removal.rst',
+    '.feature.rst',
     '.misc.rst',
+    '.removal.rst',
 }
 
 ALLOWED_FILES = {
@@ -21,11 +22,20 @@
 
 THIS_DIR = pathlib.Path(__file__).parent
 
+num_args = len(sys.argv) - 1
+assert num_args in {0, 1}
+if num_args == 1:
+    assert sys.argv[1] in ('is-empty', )
+
 for fragment_file in THIS_DIR.iterdir():
 
     if fragment_file.name in ALLOWED_FILES:
         continue
-
-    full_extension = "".join(fragment_file.suffixes)
-    if full_extension not in ALLOWED_EXTENSIONS:
+    elif num_args == 0:
+        full_extension = "".join(fragment_file.suffixes)
+        if full_extension not in ALLOWED_EXTENSIONS:
+            raise Exception(f"Unexpected file: {fragment_file}")
+    elif sys.argv[1] == 'is-empty':
         raise Exception(f"Unexpected file: {fragment_file}")
+    else:
+        raise RuntimeError("Strange: arguments {sys.argv} were validated, but not found")